A security guard was shot and critically injured during a robbery at the First Tennessee Bank branch at 2015 East Brooks Road on Monday afternoon, police said, and investigators were looking for suspects who took money.

Police said Monday night that one of the suspects is the same man who had tried to rob the First Tennessee Bank at 4330 Summer Avenue on Saturday using a note, and had left empty-handed that day after an employee hit a panic alarm.

The suspect was described as about 6 feet tall, weighing about 180 pounds and in his early 30s. On Saturday he was wearing a white hat with the word "Arkansas" written across the front, burgundy glasses, a burgundy jacket, black shirt and blue jeans.

Police released this image of a suspect in an attempted bank robbery on Summer Avenue on March 3, 2018. He's also one of the people suspected in a bank robbery on East Brooks Road on March 5, 2018.(Photo: Via Memphis Police Department)

During the later robbery on East Brooks, the same suspect was wearing clothes including black shorts over blue jeans with red legs, the police department said.

These are images of suspects from a bank robbery in Whitehaven on Monday, March 5, 2018. The police said the suspect on the right is the same man who was implicated in an attempted robbery on Summer Avenue on March 3. The police department used the arrows to highlight the man's pants, described as black shorts over blue jeans with red legs.(Photo: Via Memphis Police Department)

Police had originally said they were looking for three suspects in the Monday bank robbery, but a subsequent Facebook update referred to only two suspects: the suspect who was seen at both robberies, as well as an accomplice present at the second robbery.

"Per the investigator, there were two," said police spokesman Louis C. Brownlee.

That second suspect was described as 5-feet-8, 165 lbs., wearing sunglasses and a hat.

The police department released this image of a suspect in the robbery of a First Tennessee bank on East Brooks Road on March 5, 2018.(Photo: Via Memphis Police Department)

The robbery in which the security guard was shot was reported shortly before 1 p.m. on Monday.

The bank is in Whitehaven near Memphis International Airport.

The men fled in a dark-colored Chevrolet from the bank and the car was located by police around 1:10 p.m. in the 1900 block of Winchester Road, said Brownlee.

Shortly before 3 p.m., Memphis Police Department Col. Mickey Williams had said he'd visited the hospital earlier in the afternoon and the security guard was in surgery.

“We’ve recovered evidence from this bank robbery nearby, thanks to the help of a witness,” said Williams, commander of the Raines Station police precinct.

He declined to describe the evidence but said it was recovered at the nearby Bent Tree Apartments.

A large number of police officers had responded to the scene, and blocked off the bank with yellow tape.

Police kept several witnesses at the bank for questioning, and eventually began letting them out. One witness was Tom Degawa, a 49-year-old information technology manager.

He said he had come to the bank to make a deposit, finished the transaction and was walking out just as the men walked in. "Of course, I let them in first."

He recalled seeing three men, though the police would later say there were only two.

He said their movements seemed suspicious — they were walking so close together. "Typically, even the friends, they're not so close." He said one was wearing sunglasses that looked like Ray-Bans, but he didn’t get a good look at the other two.

“I walked out, and as soon as I walked out, three gunshots I heard,” Degawa said.

He ran to his car, got inside, and drove to the nearby Burger King that’s on the same side of Brooks Road as the bank. There, he called 911 on his cell phone. The police arrived quickly, and once they did, the dispatcher told him to go back and talk to the officers. He said he complied and explained what he saw.

Degawa said he saw the injured security guard on a gurney. "He was young." He said that they’d interacted before the robbery. “I remember when I walked in, he waved at me.”

He said the incident will make him more careful about doing business at the bank. "Now we have to have at least two people."

Degawa said this is the first time he’s experienced something like this since he moved to the United States from Japan about 30 years ago.

Reach reporter Daniel Connolly at 529-5296, daniel.connolly@commercialappeal.com, or on Twitter at @danielconnolly.